Jan Swider

 

Credits:  PhD, PE, Engineer/Scientist, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Inc.

 

Dr. Jan Swider is a Managing Director of Cogoto, Inc., an engineering consulting company providing creative and sustainable solutions to complex energy systems and technology development in aerospace, defense, and oil & gas industries.

Previous to this position, Dr. Swider was a Manager of Reliability, Maintainability, and System Safety (RMS) Department at Aerojet Rocketdyne and Pratt & Whitney, responsible for reliability and safety of various rocket engines and energy systems. He worked on the J-2X rocket engine development, advanced propulsion, Space Launch Initiative, concentrated solar power plant, and a downhole steam generator programs, among others. One of the products he contributed to, the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG), is currently operating on Mars powering the Curiosity rover.

Dr. Swider held increasingly responsible positions at Pratt & Whitney and Boeing in engineering and management on rocket engine programs such as the Space Shuttle, Delta and Atlas launch vehicles. He also held positions as Program Manager of the PWR Extreme Engineering Services and PWR Energy Systems.

Earlier, Dr. Swider was a project engineer on many advanced programs such as X-33 Linear Aerospike and RS-68 engine, and a lead engineer for the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) mission assurance in his 17-year career with Rocketdyne.

He shares his passion for engineering by helping others achieve their goals of passing a PE Exam in Mechanical Engineering and teaching a variety of courses in technical disciplines (mechanical engineering, systems engineering, reliability, risk assessment), and management.

Dr. Swider received a bachelor/engineer's degree in mechanical design and MS in mechanical engineering from The Warsaw University of Technology and earned his MS and PhD in Nuclear Engineering from The University of California, in Los Angeles (UCLA). He is a registered Professional Engineer in Mechanical Engineering in the State of California.

Dr. Swider is a member of the Society for Risk Analysis, Society of Reliability Engineers, Society of Petroleum Engineers, American Society for Quality and served as a Vice-Chair of the Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS). He was a recipient of the International Atomic Energy Agency Fellowship and the NASA Space Flight Awareness Award (www.linkedin.com/in/swider)